Another bicycle accident

When this incident occured, I realised I have so much to be glad and thankful for. People are still amazed at how close this accident happened to Rob's accident on his bicycle (see my previous entries last month here and here)

What happened

I got into an accident myself this morning on the way to work on my bike. Sigh. I'm a bit bruised and sore but nothing serious, thank God! It happened on the intersection of Aberdeen and William St in Northbridge. I had the green to go straight down Aberdeen, so I proceeded to cross the intersection. A driver coming from the other direction to turn right onto William St (i.e. into my path) decides he can beat me to it, and takes the turn. I was like "Shit, wtf is he doing!" and braked hard and thought that maybe I could swerve around his vehicle and avoid an accident. He had a freakin' trailer attached and I hit the trailer (the vehicle belonged to Western Xposure which is a tour company). I wasn't going that fast (no more than 20km/h before I braked), and neither was he (it would actually have been better if he had cleared the intersection quicker but he was going slow because cars travelling in the same direction as me were turning left onto William St as well). He should not have crossed the intersection because I know he saw me coming (he looked at me before making the turn).

After impact

Anyway, I hit the trailer, crashed into it with my shoulder, bumped my head on it, and thought "Thank God for helmets!" I was so certain that those guys would drive off but they actually had the decency to stop and check if I was okay and carried my bike off from the busy intersection. Then the driver said that next time I should go slower. I was like, "Hang on, this wasn't my fault here", but the two guys started walking off to their vehicle and said that they are in a hurry blah blah blah. This is where I am so glad and thankful for good samaritans. The driver behind those guys parked his car and came over to see if I was okay, and pretty well chased after them but only managed to grab the number plate details on the vehicle itself (and here I was trying to memorise the number on the trailer). Anyway, this guy said he's happy to be my witness and gave me his details and was even kind enough to drop me off at work. He works at TAFE in Perth, which is pretty well where the accident happened so he had to go out of his way to drop me off in Leederville. I'm so glad and thankful for people like him. I would have been stranded otherwise because I couldn't even wheel the bicycle anywhere.

The damage

The guys at the bike store said the repair would be a couple of hundred dollars coz they have to replace the front fork as well as the wheel. I've got a pretty nasty burn on my left shoulder where I must've grazed it when I hit the trailer, and my left shoulder is feeling pretty sore. I didn't notice my left knuckles were grazed and bleeding until I arrived at work. I also have a bruise on my right knee and inner thigh. I've also somehow hurt my tailbone as well. But I am so thankful and glad that I wasn't more seriously hurt. The doctor checked to see that nothing was broken, and said that if I wished to make a compensation claim and/or if things got worse, then I should go back in a week's time to get it all sorted. Apparently injuries can show up much later on. After the doctor's, we went to the police station to make a report. I listed the accident down as a Hit and Run because that's basically what it was.

The annoying part

We rang Western Xposure to grab insurance details off them, and the director had the nerve to say that they wanted to make the claim FROM me! Bullsh*t. Their trailer had received no damage. He asked if I'd made a police report, and then said that he'll wait to hear from the police before giving out his insurance details. At this point, I was almost giving up pursuing their insurance details when Rob grabbed the phone and basically told the guy (in a gruff voice) that police won't contact him for claims less than $1000 and that we'd have to deal directly with the insurance company. I'm so glad for Rob. Because this sort of thing happened to him before, Rob knew what to do and what to say. The Western Xposure guy said something to the effect that I shouldn't be riding on the road. Sigh. So many drivers out there are so ignorant of the fact that we have to ride on the road because it's not legal for us to ride on most pedestrian footpaths.

Anyway, the Western Xposure guy said that he'll find out more about what happened and asked us to call back tomorrow. Rob requested that he contact his insurance company about this incident as well. I hope that this one won't be as messy as Rob's situation. Rob's been such a sweetie driving me to doctor's, accompanying me to the police station to help me fill out the report and finally dealing with the Western Xposure people.


Not much luck with our bicycles lately huh? We had a year of accident-free period on our bikes though (only near-misses), and I'm really glad and thankful that we have not sustained worse injuries.